Shoah probe / The clock is ticking - Haaretz

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Wed., January 23, 2008 Shvat 16, 5768

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Shoah probe / The clock is ticking

By Anshel Pfeffer

Tags: Israel, Holocaust survivors

Even before the commission into the treatment of Holocaust survivors has met, its chair, former Supreme Court justice Dalia Dorner, has cleared its path of potential trouble spots. By focusing on drawing up operative suggestions to provide solutions for the needs of survivors, Dorner has managed to avoid sinking in a bog of historical recriminations that stretch back to the near civil war that erupted when the Reparations Agreement was signed with West Germany.

In addition, Dorner's intention of not looking for the guilty parties who are to blame for today's situation will prevent turning the committee into a political tool in the hands of the Knesset members who created it.

But it is not at all certain that such a path will help the committee reach its ambitious, self-imposed timetable of two months debating before a report is handed in April. Even without historical research, the three members of the committee are about to enter troubled waters.

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Though Dorner may believe survivors deserve special stipend privileges because of their unique historical situation, she still needs to persuade social welfare authorities that elderly Holocaust survivors deserve larger stipends than their peers from Yemen or Ethiopia.

Say there is a consensus over the privileged rights of survivors, the committee members will have to define who is a survivor. What are the minimal periods of interment at a camp or ghetto needed to be considered a survivor? And what about those who fled Nazi occupation?

And where will the money come from? The government pledged an overall sum of NIS 2 billion over the next two years. Should the commission deem this insufficient, it will have to funnel further funds, which is where the assortment of non-governmental groups and organizations come into the picture, demanding Germany revise the Reparations Agreement.

Others will urge launching a campaign reclaiming property owned by victims and yet others will criticize the work of the Claims Conference, which has handled reparations funds for over 50 years. The advanced age of survivors demands fast action, but it is doubtful whether this can be carried out in two months.

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